PLANS for a return of the popular Teesside Airshow have been grounded due to a lack of support.

Friends of Durham Tees Valley Airport (FODTVA) wanted to bring back the event for the first time in more than two decades and had set a date of Saturday, June 22.

Chairman of the group Colin Granton today said they were “gutted” the plans had to be shelved due to a lack of “operational support”.

“We were looking forward to the airshow,” said Mr Granton.

“But unless everything comes together and you have the full support of everyone it can’t go ahead.

“There has been over 300 hours put into this, we have put in a lot of time and effort, to have that rejected, the team are gutted.”

Mr Granton praised the team at Durham Tees Valley who had given their all to the proposal.

“The staff and management on site at the airport have given nothing but 100% backing behind this,” he added.

Despite suffering money problems the cancellation is not due to finances. Having reached their target of pulling in £65,000, late withdrawals from backers left the group with a £30,000 shortfall.

But last ditch attempts were made to save the event and brought in new backers.

The RAF, who would have been providing the Red Arrows and Tornado and Falcons Parachute demo teams, extended the cut-off point from last Friday to today when they would need a decision on whether to confirm the booking.

FODTVA was set up in November last year to recruit volunteers to promote, support and assist the airport wherever and whenever possible.

One of the first big initiatives for the group was the open day/fly-in planned for this summer.